SO. You already know where I’ve been, and you probably don’t
care to learn anything more, but I’m going to ignore that last fact for the
sake of my intro. So, “What have you been doing in the Void, Ellie?” you ask. “Many
things, including reading and annotating lots of essays on how to write for AP
English,” I say.

I continue, “And reading writing advice from people like
Stephen King and Anne Lamott has gotten me thinking about what I think of their
tips and what my own might be. I had to write a miniature essay on it, in fact.
So today I’m coming at you with my five very best writing tips, gathered from
seven years of writing.”

1. Don’t be afraid to
put things aside and come back to them later. Sometimes, your skill level,

knowledge base, and current mental space won’t be right for you to write the
story you want. That’s okay, y’all. I put aside pieces and come back to them
all time. Always, they’re better when I do that than if I hadn’t. Giving your
ideas more time to marinate and develop is better than forcing them before
you’re ready.

2. Keep track of
great tips and categorize them. I have a Pinterest board for this, but you can
do it any way you want. If somebody gives you a piece of advice that makes you
go, “Aha!” write it down somewhere. Sort these golden nuggets by topic – character,
plot, etc. – so they’re easy to find and reference when you need them.

3. Conversely, don’t
panic about following every piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard. Consider every piece of advice you hear,
but you’ll get overwhelmed if you try to implement them all and think about
them constantly. File away the advice that strikes you, but if you think
something is wrong, have heard it before, or it doesn’t seem too helpful, don’t
feel like you HAVE to follow it just because someone suggested it.

4. Read things
outside the genre you write. When I only read fantasy, my fantasy
inevitably ended up being cookie-cutter and bland. The only writing I was able
to learn from were things that had already been done. As much as you may
dislike doing this, you have to read lots of books in multiple genres outside
the one you write. I write fantasy/paranormal, and while there’s nothing better
than settling down with a good Tolkien book, I get so much more out of it when I read contemporary, nonfiction, and
other genres. It will seem hard to find books you like at first, but consulting
other lovers of your favorite genre for different types of books they enjoyed
can really help!

5. Learn the rules,
then don’t be afraid to break them. You don’t have to break grammar rules,
of course, and this certainly isn’t permission to go without learning them. But
if you think breaking them – writing a fragment here and there, using a run-on
sentence when a character is panicking, etc. – would communicate your ideas
better than adhering to every little rule of English, go for it!

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Let’s chat! What do
you think of my advice? What would yours be? What are the best tips you’ve
heard from others? Comment below, and have a wonderful
day/week/century/however long it is until I speak to you again.